Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Corinthians 3:5
Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency [is] of God;
5. Not that we are sufficient ] We here return to the idea touched upon in ch. 2Co 2:16, but then passed over on account of St Paul’s eagerness to assert the purity of his motives.
of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves ] The two prepositions translated ‘of’ here are not the same in the Greek. The former signifies ‘ from ’ simply, but not excluding the idea of origination in some source outside us. The latter signifies ‘ out of ’ as from an original source.
but our sufficiency is of God ] Cf. 1Co 3:9.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Not that we are sufficient of ourselves – This is evidently designed to guard against the appearance of boasting, or of self-confidence. He had spoken of his confidence; of his triumph; of his success; of his undoubted evidence that God had sent him. He here says, that he did not mean to be understood as affirming that any of his success came from himself, or that he was able by his own strength to accomplish the great things which had been effected by his ministry. He well knew that he had no such self-sufficiency; and he would not insinuate, in the slightest manner, that he believed himself to be invested with any such power, compare note on Joh 15:5.
To think anything – ( logisasthai ti). The word used here means properly to reason, think, consider; and then to reckon, count to, or impute to anyone. It is the word which is commonly rendered impute; see it explained more fully in the note on Rom 4:5. Robinson (Lexicon) renders it in this place, to reason out, to think out, to find out by thinking. Doddridge renders it, to reckon upon anything as from ourselves. Whitby renders it, to reason; as if the apostle had said, We are unable by any reasoning of our own to bring people to conversion. Macknight gives a similar sense. Locke renders it, Not as if I were sufficient of myself, to reckon upon anything as from myself: and explains it to mean that Paul was not sufficient of himself by any strength of natural parts to attain the knowledge of the gospel truths which he preached. The word may be rendered here, to reckon, reason, think, etc.; but it should be confined to the immediate subject under consideration. It does not refer to thinking in general; or to the power of thought on any, and on all subjects – however true it may be in itself but to the preaching the gospel. And the expression may be regarded as referring to the following points, which are immediately under discussion:
(1) Paul did not feel that he was sufficient of himself to have reasoned or thought out the truths of the gospel. They were communicated by God.
(2) He had no power by reasoning to convince or convert sinners. That was all of God.
(3) He had no right to reckon on success by any strength of his own. All success was to be traced to God. It is, however, also true, that all our powers of thinking and reasoning are from God; and that we have no ability to think clearly, to reason calmly, closely, and correctly, unless he shall preside over our minds and give us clearness of thought. How easy is it for God to disarrange all our faculties, and produce insanity! How easy to suffer our minds to become unsettled, bewildered, and distracted with a multiplicity of thoughts! How easy to cause every thing to appear cloudy, and dark, and misty! How easy to affect our bodies with weakness, langor, disease, and through them to destroy all power of close and consecutive thought! No one who considers on how many things the power of close thinking depends, can doubt that all our sufficiency in this is from God; and that we owe to him every clear idea on the subjects of common life, and on scientific subjects, no less certainly than we do in the truths of religion, compare the case of Bezaleel and Aholiab in common arts, Exo 31:1-6, and Job 32:8.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
2Co 3:5-6
Not that we are sufficient of ourselves our sufficiency is of God.
The sufficiency of God
The all-sufficiency of God is the essence of all Christian experience, it has been the support of the faithful in all ages of the Church; it gives strength to patience, solidity to hope, constancy to endurance, nerve and vitality to effort.
I. The nature of this sufficiency. The sufficiency of God may be considered either as proper or communicative. By His proper sufficiency we mean that He is self-existent, self-sufficient, independently happy. It is, however, of the sufficiency of God in relation to His creatures that we have now to speak. He is sufficient–
1. For the preservation of the universe. The heavens were made by Him, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth. And as nothing earthly has within it the power to sustain itself, tie upholdeth all things by the word of His power. Reason refers all this to the operation of second causes; piety looks through the complications of the mechanism to the hand that formed it. The whole universe is one vast laboratory of benevolent art, over every department of which Deity presides; a sanctuary, every part of which Deity inhabits–a circle, whose circumference is unfathomed, but whose every section is filled with God.
2. For the preservation and for the perpetuity of the gospel plan is the salvation and ultimate happiness of every individual believer.
(1) Christianity is not to be viewed by us merely as a moral system; it is a course of Divine operations. We are not to regard it as a mere statement of doctrine, we must remember the Divine agency by which it is always conducted and inspired. Human eloquence and reasoning are persuasive and powerful things; they can charm a Herod, make a Felix tremble; but they can do no more. Inanimate truth can produce no abiding change. Pardon and sanctification are not the necessary consequences of statement of doctrine. Scripture cannot produce them. But let the Spirit animate it, and it has the power of God. Hearers who sit under the ministration of the truth without the Spirit may be likened to a man standing upon the brow of a hill, which commands the prospect of an extensive landscape. The varied beauties of field and dell are before him, but there is one drawback–the man is blind. So the truth is in the Bible, but the man has no eyes to see it. Prevailing truth is not of the letter, but of the Spirit (2Co 3:6).
(2) There will be considerable difficulties about the mode of procedure. Man is a moral agent, and God has endowed him with talents, and invested him with an immense delegation of power in the distribution of those talents, in the exercise of that power. He has got such a respect for the will that He has placed within us, that He will never force an entrance. He will do everything else. But notwithstanding opposition, the gospel shall triumph. We can conceive of no enemies more powerful than those it has already vanquished. God is with the gospel–that is the great secret of its success. She does not trust in her inherent energy; She does not trust in her exquisite adaptation to the wants of men; she does not trust in the indefatigable and self-denying labours of her ministers. God is with the gospel, and under His guidance she shall march triumphantly forward reclaiming the world unto herself. And, oh, what a comfortable doctrine is this! If this gospel is thus to be conducted from step to step in its progressive march to triumph, I shall share, surely, in its succours and salvation by the way. It guarantees individual salvation and individual defence. Thy sufficiency is of God. What frightens thee–affliction? God is thy health. Persecution? God is thy crown. Perplexity? God is thy counsel. Death? God is thine everlasting life. Only trust in God, and all shall be well; life shall glide thee into death, and death shall glide thee into heaven.
II. The authority which believers have to expect this sufficiency for themselves. We have a right to expect it, because it is found and promised in the Bible. It is not my Bible, your Bible, it is common property, it belongs to the universal Church.
1. Listen, Thus saith the Lord, who created thee, O Jacob, and formed thee, O Israel; fear not, for I have redeemed thee; I have called thee by thy name. Now think of all this, believers, past, present, and future, and then come and hear God saying, I have called thee by thy name, to every one out of that mass; Thou art not lost in the crowd. Thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee; through the rivers–deeper than the waters–they shall not overflow thee, etc. The Lord God is a sun and a shield, light and defence; we do not want much more in our passage. He will give grace and glory; and if any of you are so perversely clever that you can think of some blessing that is not wrapped up either in grace or glory, No good thing shall He withhold from them that walk uprightly.
2. Are you still dissatisfied? God condescends to expostulate with you upon your unbelief. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speaketh, O Israel, My way is hidden from the Lord? How often have you said that! Are you still distrustful? Then ponder Scripture examples–Abraham on Moriah, Israel at the Red Sea, Nehemiah building the wall.
3. But you are not satisfied yet. You say, Those are all instances taken from the Old Testament times. Well, come into common life. In that house a man is dying. He is a Christian, and knowing whom he has believed, he is not afraid to die. But the thought that he will leave his family without a protector pressed upon his spirit somewhat, and when you look at him there is a shade of sadness upon his countenance. But you gaze awhile, and you see that shade is chased away by a smile. What has wrought the change? What! why, a ministering angel whispered him, Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive. You call the next morning; the widow is sitting in sorrow. But she too is a Christian, and flies to the Christian refuge, and her eye traces these comfortable words, Thy Maker is thy husband, the Lord of Hosts is His name. (W. M. Punshon, LL. D.)
God the sufficiency of man
Self-confidence is the great outstanding feature of the natural character. Almost all its words and actions bear this impress–I am sufficient of myself. You will wait in vain for any recognition of the hand of God. But the self-sufficiency of fallen man is perhaps most strikingly displayed in the way in which he deals with those truths which affect the salvation of his soul and his hopes for eternity. He has his own notions of Gods character and law and arrangements, and has adopted a plan of his own, which he imagines suits his case better than the one which Infinite Wisdom has appointed. Thus, self-sufficient is every one who has not been enlightened by the Spirit of God. But how different is it with Paul in the passage before us!
I. And I remark in the first place that our sufficiency is of God in respect to our temporal blessings and everyday mercies. We are wholly indebted to Him for the past, and wholly dependent on Him for the future. Have we a comfortable home to live in, and does not peace reign in our household? These blessings are of the Lords bestowing. Nor should we imagine that our sufficiency in temporal blessing is less of God in ordinary circumstances than in extraordinary occasions.
II. But I remark secondly that our sufficiency is of God in respect of our spiritual privileges.
1. In respect of justifying righteousness. We are not sufficient to work out a righteousness for ourselves.
2. Our sufficiency for holiness is of God. Old principles must be forsaken, and new ones adopted. Old habits must be given up and new ones formed. New tastes are to be cultivated and new desires cherished. But are we able to perform these duties of ourselves? Assuredly not. But what then? Does our inability excuse unbelief, impenitence, or indolence? No, verily; for while we are without strength in ourselves, there is strength in God if we will take hold of it.
3. Our sufficiency is of God in respect of usefulness (J G. Dalgliesh.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 5. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves] We do not arrogate to ourselves any power to enlighten the mind or change the heart, we are only instruments in the hand of God. Nor was it possible for us apostles to think, to invent, such a scheme of salvation as is the Gospel; and if we even had been equal to the invention, how could we have fulfilled such promises as this scheme of salvation abounds with? God alone could fulfil these promises, and he fulfils only those which he makes himself. All these promises have been amen-ratified and fulfilled to you who have believed on Christ Jesus according to our preaching; therefore, ye are God’s workmanship and it is only by God’s sufficiency that we have been able to do any thing. This I believe to be the apostle’s meaning in this place, and that he speaks here merely of the Gospel scheme, and the inability of human wisdom to invent it; and the words , which we translate to think any thing, signify, properly, to find any thing out by reasoning; and as the Gospel scheme of salvation is the subject in hand, to that subject the words are to be referred and limited. The words, however, contain also a general truth; we can neither think, act, nor be, without God. From him we have received all our powers, whether of body or of mind, and without him we can do nothing. But we may abuse both our power of thinking and acting; for the power to think, and the power to act, are widely different from the act of thinking, and the act of doing. God gives us the power or capacity to think and act, but he neither thinks nor acts for us. It is on this ground that we may abuse our powers, and think evil, and act wickedly; and it is on this ground that we are accountable for our thoughts, words, and deeds.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
I would not have you think that we judge ourselves sufficient to work a change in the hearts of men; we are so far from that, that we have no sufficiency so much as to think one good thought, which is the lowest human act. Though the subject, upon which the apostle is here discoursing, be a sufficiency to work a work of grace in the hearts of men; yet here is a strong proof to prove the impotency of mans will unto any thing that is truly and spiritually good: for though the apostle declares here his own and all other ministers insufficiency to the change of any mans heart, yet he proveth it by an argument, concluding from the lesser to the greater; for if they be not sufficient of themselves, and as of themselves, to think any thing which is truly and spiritually good, they are then much less sufficient for so great a work as the conversion of souls. Nor doth that term,
as of ourselves, any thing alter the matter; for if we can think good thoughts, in any sense,
as of ourselves, it is not
of God, in the sense which the apostle is speaking of; who is not here speaking of God as the God of nature, (from whom indeed we derive our power of thinking), but as the God of grace, from whom we derive our power of thinking holy thoughts, and such as are truly and spiritually good. The apostle determineth all our sufficiency to spiritually good actions to be from God, our sufficiency to the lowest (which is thinking good thoughts) as well as to those of the highest sort; amongst which must those actions be accounted, by which men are made workers together with God, in the bringing of souls out of darkness into marvellous light; opening their eyes, turning them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, Act 26:18. Our sufficiency to think any thoughts, or to do any natural or moral actions, is from God, as he is the God of nature. But it appeareth from all the preceding discourse, that our apostle is here speaking of that sufficiency which floweth from God through the mediation of Christ: our power of thinking floweth from the providence of God towards all men; and if that had been all which the apostle had meant in saying,
our sufficieney is from God, it had been no more than what they might have learned from the heathen philosophers, who would have acknowledged, that all mens sufficiency to natural actions is from the Divine Being, or the first Mover.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
5. The Greek is, “Notthat we are (even yet after so long experience as ministers)sufficient to think anything OF ourselves as (coming) FROMourselves; but our sufficiency is (derived) FROMGod.” “From” more definitely refers to thesource out of which a thing comes; “of” is moregeneral.
to thinkGreek,to “reason out” or “devise”; to attain tosound preaching by our reasonings [THEODORET].The “we” refers here to ministers (2Pe1:21).
anythingeven theleast. We cannot expect too little from man, or too much from God.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Not that we are sufficient of ourselves,…. Though we are sufficient for this work to which God has called us, and have such trust and confidence that he has blessed and owned us, and done such great things by us; yet we do not ascribe anything to ourselves, to any power of ours, to any self-sufficiency in us: for “we are not sufficient of ourselves” neither for the work of the ministry, nor for the conversion of sinners, nor for faith and hope in God, nor for any spiritual work whatever; not even to think anything as of ourselves; any good thing, either for our own use and benefit, or for the advantage of others; we are not able of ourselves to meditate with judgment and affection upon the word of God, to study the Scriptures, to collect from them things fit for the ministry; and much less with freedom and boldness to speak of them to edification; and still less able to impress them upon the heart: for though you who are the epistle of Christ are ministered by us, yet not by any power and self-sufficiency of ours;
but our sufficiency is of God; to think, to speak, and to act for his glory.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Of ourselves (‘ ). Starting from ourselves (reflexive pronoun).
As from ourselves ( ). He says it over again with preposition (out of). He has no originating power for such confidence.
Sufficiency (). Old word, only here in N.T.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves,” (ouch hoti aph’ heauton hikanoiesmen) “not that we are, have, or hold competence of ourselves,” for it is not within man’s power “to direct” his own steps, Jer 10:23. The Lord promises to direct the steps (in sufficiency) of those who trust in Him, Pro 3:3-5.
2) “To think anything as of ourselves,” (logisssthai ti hos eks heauton) “to reckon, reason, calculate, or conclude anything as of (out of) ourselves;” For it is written, “not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit saith the Lord, Zec 4:6. Even methods used and moves made in the ministry must be Holy Spirit guided, Joh 16:13.
3) “But our sufficiency is of God,” (all’ he hikanotes hemon ek tou theou) “but the competence of us is of (out of) God” source of all competence, achievement, all that is honorable. Even the belief of the heart and confession of mouth and tongue to salvation are God-initiated, through the wooing and conviction of the Holy Spirit, Pro 16:1; Rom 10:8-10; Our Lord declared to His own disciples, regarding fruit-bearing, A. without me ye can do nothing;” The bestowed grace of God enables the believer in every state, condition, trial, and act of service and sacrifice for the Lord, 1Co 15:10; Php_2:13; 2Co 12:9.
MINISTRY -SPIRITUAL, NOT LEGAL
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
5. Not that we are competent. (370) When he thus disclaims all merit, it is not as if he abased himself in merely pretended modesty, but instead of this, he speaks what he truly thinks. Now we see, that he leaves man nothing. For the smallest part, in a manner, of a good work is thought. In other words, (371) it has neither the first part of the praise, nor the second; and yet he does not allow us even this. As it is less to think than to will, how foolish a part do those act, who arrogate to themselves a right will, when Paul does not leave them so much as the power of thinking aught! (372) Papists have been misled by the term sufficiency, that is made use of by the Old Interpreter. (373) For they think to get off by acknowledging that man is not qualified to form good purposes, while in the mean time they ascribe to him a right apprehension of the mind, which, with some assistance from God, may effect something of itself. Paul, on the other hand, declares that man is in want, not merely of sufficiency of himself, ( αὐτάρκειαν,) but also of competency ( ἱκανότητα,) (374) which would be equivalent to idoneitas (fitness), if such a term were in use among the Latins. He could not, therefore, more effectually strip man bare of every thing good. (375)
(370) “ Non point que soyons suffisans;” — “Not that we are sufficient.”
(371) “ Pour le moins;” — “At least.”
(372) See Institutes, volume 1. — Ed.
(373) Wiclif (1380) following, as he is wont, the Vulgate, renders the verse as follows: “Not that we ben sufficiente to thenke ony thing of us as of us: but oure sufficience is of God.” — Ed.
(374) “ La disposition, preparation, et inclination;” — “Disposition, preparation, and inclination.”
(375) Charnock, in his “Discourse on the Efficient of Regeneration,” makes an interesting allusion to Calvin’s exposition of this verse. “Thinking,” says he, “is the lowest step in the ladder of preparation; ‘tis the first act of the creature in any rational production; yet this the Apostle doth remove from man, as in every part of it his own act, (2Co 3:5)
Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God.
The word signifies — reasoning: no rational act can be done without reasoning; this is not purely our own. We have no sufficiency of ourselves, as of ourselves, originally and radically of ourselves, as if we were the author of that sufficiency, either naturally or meritoriously. And Calvin observes, that the word is not αὐτάρκεια, but ἱκανότη ” — not a self ability, but an aptitude or fitness to any gracious thought. How can we oblige him by any act, since, in every part of it, it is from him, not from ourselves? For as thinking is the first requisite, so it is perpetually requisite to the progress of any rational act, so that every thought in any act, and the whole progress, wherein there must be a whole flood of thoughts, is from the sufficiency of God.” — Charnock’s Works, volume 2, p. 149. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(5) Not that we are sufficient . . .He had not used the word sufficient of himself, but it was clearly the implied answer to the question, Who is sufficient for these things? In the Greek there are two different prepositions for the one of in English. Not as though we are sufficient of ourselves to form any estimate as originating with ourselves, would be a fair paraphrase. The habit of mind which led St. Paul to emphasise the shades of meaning in Greek prepositions to an extent hardly to be expressed in English, and not commonly recognised, it may be, in colloquial Greek, is seen again in Rom. 11:36.
Is of God.The preposition is the same as in the second of the two previous clauses. The sufficiency flows from God as its source: originates with him.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
5. Sufficient Same word as in 2Co 2:16.
To think To think out, or excogitate the truths of the gospel. Paul here entirely ignores the imputation that the gospel as by him preached is by him invented. No, it originates with God, from whom comes all his sufficiency even to preach it.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Co 3:5 . Now comes the caveat, for which 2Co 3:4 has prepared the way, the guarding against the possible objection, that Paul considered himself (and Timothy) as originator of the ability for apostolic working. is therefore not to be taken as equivalent to on (Mosheim, Schulz, Emmerling), nor is to be supplied again after (Emmerling); but we have here the quite common use of for , . See on 2Co 1:24 . Rckert finds in . . . a reason assigned for the , or an explanation of it: “In thus speaking, I would not have it thought that,” etc. But if in . there was meant to be conveyed the same idea as was further explained in 2Co 3:5 , Paul would have expressed himself quite illogically, and in explaining or assigning a reason for it he must have written . No; the course of thought is: “With this , however, I do not wish to be misunderstood or misconstrued: I do not mean by it, that we are of ourselves sufficient,” etc. With this connection is not at variance; for by it God was not yet meant as author of the adequate ability (2Co 3:5 shows this very point), but as producer of the result .
] to judge anything ( censere ). The context furnishes the more precise definition which Paul had in view. 2Co 3:2-4 ; 2Co 3:6 . He denies, namely, that of himself he possesses the ability to settle in his judgment the means and ways, and, in general, the mode of discharging his apostolic duties . If he has just been speaking in 2Co 3:2-4 with so much confidence of his prosperous and successful labour in Corinth, yet it is by no means his own ability, but the divine empowering, which enables him to determine by his own judgment anything regarding the discharge of his vocation. Accordingly, we can neither approve the meaning arbitrarily given to , aliquid praeclari (Emmerling; van Hengel, Annot . p. 219), nor agree with Hofmann, who, in consistency with his reference of to 2Co 2:14-17 , makes the apostle guard against the misconstruction that this, his , rests on ideas which he forms for himself on an estimate of his official working, according to a standard elaborated by his own mind. Even apart from that erroneous reference of the , the very expression would be unsuitable to the meaning adopted by Hofmann, and instead of it a notion of presumption would rather have been in place; the prominence given to by its being used thrice can only concern the ability which regulates the official labour itself . The dogmatic exposition, disregarding the context, finds here the entire inability of the natural man for all good. See Augustine, de dono persev. 13, contra Pelag. 8; Calvin: “non poterat magis hominem nudare omni bono.” Comp. Beza, Calovius, and others, including Olshausen. The reference also of the words to the doctrinal contents of the preaching, which was not derived from his own reflection (Theodoret, Grotius, de Wette, Neander, and others), is not suggested by the connection, and is forbidden by the fact that does not belong to at all (see below). This also in opposition to Osiander, who finds the meaning. “not human, but divine thoughts lie at the root of the whole of my official work.”
] has its assured place after . (see the critical remarks). The contrast that follows ( ) decides what it belongs to in sense, namely, not to , but to , so that is to be considered as going together , as one idea. Mistaking this, Rckert thinks that either Paul has placed the words wrongly, or the order given by B C (see the critical remarks) must be preferred.
On , from one’s own means, nemine suppeditante, see Wetstei.
] sc. . , a more precise definition of the . inserted on purpose (making the notice thoroughly exhaustive). The proceeding from ( ) is still more definitely marked as causal procession ( ): as from ourselves, i.e. as if our ability to judge anything had its origin from ourselves. Wolf arbitrarily refers to the will, and to the power; and Rckert wrongly connects . with . ; it is in fact parallel to . Paul is conscious of the , and ascribes it to himself; but he denies that he has this of himself, or from himsel.
] sc. .
Rckert finds in our passage, especially in , an allusion to some utterances, unknown to us, of opponents, which, however, cannot be proved from 2Co 10:7 , and is quite a superfluous hypothesis.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 2006
THE EXTENT OF MANS IMPOTENCY
2Co 3:5. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God.
COMMONLY as these words are cited, they are not easy to be satisfactorily explained. There is an evident abruptness in them: and they appear to go far beyond what the context requires. The Apostle had spoken of the success of his ministry: and thanked God for making manifest the savour of the knowledge of Christ by him in every place [Note: 2Co 2:14.]. He had appealed to the Corinthians, as living witnesses of the power of Christ in his ministry; seeing that they were, in fact, epistles of Christ, known and read of all men [Note: ver. 2, 3.]. And he trusted that God would yet further manifest his power, in carrying on amongst them, and in other places, the work of mens salvation, through the instrumentality of his ministry [Note: ver. 4.]. But whilst he spoke thus, did he arrogate any thing to himself, as though these effects were produced by any powers of his own! No: he utterly disclaimed all such pretensions; and declared, that, so far from being able to convert others by any powers of his own, he had not of himself a sufficiency even to think a good thought: his sufficiency even for that, and much more for all his ministerial success, was from God alone.
The word which we here translate think any thing, means also to reason [Note: .]: and if it could have borne the sense of convincing by reasoning, that is the sense we should have preferred; because that would have been the precise idea which the subject called for. But, as no such construction can be put upon it, we are convinced that the version given to it in our translation is right; and that the Apostle must be understood as going designedly beyond what the occasion called for, and as intending to intimate, not only that he could not convert others by any power of his own, but not even excite any good thought within his own bosom, unless he were strengthened for it from above. He had before said, Who is sufficient for these things [Note: 2Co 2:16.]? and here he ascribes all his sufficiency, for every part of his ministry, to God alone [Note: See the repetition of the word in in ver. 5, 6. , , , the force of which is lost in our translation.].
To mark fully the meaning of the Apostle, I will endeavour to shew whence all our sufficiency arises,
I.
For the communicating of good to the souls of others
Whatever force there may be in the reasonings of men, or whatever fascination in their eloquence, it is certain that neither the one nor the other have any power to convert a soul to God
[Our blessed Lord spake to many, in vain. Though he spake as never man spake either before or since, yet did he not convince all his hearers. If some said, He is a good man; others said, Nay, but he deceiveth the people [Note: Joh 7:12.]. Nor did his miracles produce the same effect on all. The poor man, whose eyes he had opened, argued with the Pharisees in vain, because their minds were not open to conviction: Herein is a marvellous thing, said he, that ye know not from whence this Jesus is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes. Since the world began, was it not heard, that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind. If this man were not of God, he could do nothing. And what was the effect of this reasoning? It only incensed them the more; and caused them to pass on the poor man a sentence of excommunication [Note: Joh 9:30-34.]. One would have thought that the raising of Lazarus from the grave, after he had been dead four days, should have carried conviction to all: but the chief priests, instead of being duly influenced by it themselves, sought to put Lazarus to death, in order to obstruct the influence of this miracle on the minds of others [Note: Joh 12:10-11.]. Thus it was also with the Apostles. When, in consequence of the Holy Spirit being poured out upon them on the day of Pentecost, they were enabled to address persons of different countries, each in their own particular language, some, who beheld this stupendous miracle, only mocked at it, and said that the Apostles were full of new wine, and in a state of intoxication at nine oclock in the morning [Note: Act 2:11-15.]. So when Paul pleaded the Saviours cause before Festus and Agrippa, Festus, who was full of prejudice, cried out, Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning hath made thee mad: whilst Agrippa, who was more intelligent and more candid, said, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian [Note: Act 26:24-28.]. In fact, truth hath no force with those who have not eyes to see it.]
Whatever good, therefore, is done to any man, it must be ascribed to God alone
[It was the Lord who opened the heart of Lydia to attend to the things that were spoken by Paul [Note: Act 16:14.]: and to a want of such a divine operation did he ascribe the obstinacy of the Jews whom he addressed at Rome. After expounding the Scriptures from morning to evening to many of them in vain, he said, Well spake the Holy Ghost, by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers, saying, Go unto this people and say, Hearing, ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing, ye shall see, and not perceive: for the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing; and their eyes have they closed, lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them [Note: Act 28:23-27.]. So true is that declaration of Solomon, The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made even both of them [Note: Pro 20:12.]. And most important is this truth for the instruction of all who minister in holy things, that they may know where to look for the success of their labours for neither is he that planteth any thing, nor he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase [Note: 1Co 3:6-7.].]
From the same divine source must be derived all our sufficiency,
II.
For the exercising of good in our own souls
The foregoing observations illustrate the Apostlesargument. What I shall now adduce is for the illustration of his particular assertion, that of himself he could not even think a good thought.
There is not, in unassisted man, an inclination to entertain a good thought
[The heart of the sons of men is full of evil [Note: Ecc 9:3.]: yea, every imagination of the thoughts of their hearts is evil, only evil, continually [Note: Gen 6:5.]. What is morally good may arise in the hearts of many: but what is spiritually good must be put there by the special agency of the Holy Ghost. Kindness, benevolence, compassion, though certainly referable to God as their prime Author, exist in the minds of many who are not partakers of saving grace: but hatred of sin, and love to God and Christ, and holiness, find no place in the bosom of an unconverted man: there is between him and them as great a difference as between light and darkness, or Christ and Belial: they have not, they cannot have, communion with each other [Note: 2Co 6:14-15.]. As well might a stone ascend of itself, or a spark descend, as an ungodly man give birth to that which is so foreign to his nature, as spiritual good is to a carnal heart.]
Nor is there in unassisted man a capacity to cherish what is truly good
[We are told, from unquestionable authority, that the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned [Note: 1Co 2:14.]. This may be illustrated by the metaphor which St. Paul makes use of in the preceding context. He has spoken of spreading the savour of the knowledge of Christ; and has stated, that, in his ministry, he was to some a savour of death unto death, and to others a savour of life unto life [Note: 1Co 2:14-16.]. Now we know that odours have very different effects on different persons: the very same odour which to one may be grateful and reviving, to another may be offensive and injurious: and none but God could reverse these tendencies. So, to some, the sublimest truths of the Gospel appear only as foolishness, whilst to others they are the wisdom of God and the power of God. And whence is this, but because a spiritual discernment has been given to the one, whilst the other possesses only that natural intellect which is conversant with earthly things? In a word, to the one it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven; but to the other it is not given [Note: Mat 13:11.]: nor, till God, of his own good pleasure, has given us to will and to do what is pleasing in his sight [Note: Php 2:13.], shall we ever do it, or ever so much as will it. Our sufficiency for the one, as well as for the other, must come from God alone: for without Christ we can do nothing [Note: Joh 15:5.].]
See, then, in this subject,
1.
What matter there is for humiliation
[It is scarcely possible to conceive any thing more humiliating than the declaration in my text. And if any man doubt the truth of it, let him look: back and see, even in the space of the longest life, who ever, by the force of his own natural powers, entertained so much as one thought that was truly in accordance with Gods perfect law, or fully consonant with his Gospel? I have said before, that things morally good are attainable by the natural man; but things spiritually good are altogether out of his reach. Only keep in mind this important distinction, and no language that can be used can be too strong to declare our destitution of all good, and our dependence upon God for every good disposition or desire ]
2.
What matter there is for encouragement
[Was Pauls sufficiency derived from God alone? Then I also may obtain all that I need. Since the same source and fountain is open for me also, why need I be discouraged at the thought of my own impotency? If God, in instances without number, has revealed unto babes what he has hidden from the wise and prudent [Note: Mat 11:25.], and by things which are not, has brought to nought things that are [Note: 1Co 1:28.]; what need have I to be discouraged? Whatever be my duties, whether personal or official, God can strengthen me for them; yea, and he will perfect his own strength in my weakness [Note: 2Co 12:9.]. I will be strong then in the Lord, and in the power of his might [Note: Eph 6:10.], and address myself to every duty in dependence on him. Then shall I not fail in any thing that I undertake: for I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me [Note: Php 4:13.].]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;
Ver. 5. Not that we are sufficient ] Lest they should think him arrogant. Cyrus had this written upon his tomb, “I could do all things,” , as Arrianus reports. So could Paul too; but it was through Christ which strengthened him, Phi 4:13 .
All our sufficiency is of God ] Had not ministers then need to pray? Bene orasse est bene studuisse, saith Luther. And whether a minister shall do no more good to others by his prayers or preaching, I will not determine (saith a reverend writer), but he shall certainly by his prayers reap more comfort to himself; whereto I add, that unless he pray for his hearers as well as preach to them, he may preach to as little purpose as Bede did, when he preached to a heap of stones; and that if people pray not for their ministers, they may prove ministrorum opprobria, like Laban’s lambs, or Pharaoh’s kine; they may thank themselves for their minister’s insufficiency and their own non-proficiency.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
5. ] not that (i.e. ‘I mean not, that’ : not,’ not because ,’ as Winer in his former editions: see edn. 6, 61. 5. f) we are of ourselves able to think any thing (to carry on any of the processes of reasoning or judgment, or faith belonging to our apostolic calling: there is no ellipsis, ‘any thing great ,’ or ‘ good ,’ or the like) of ourselves, as if from ourselves ( . and . are parallel: the latter more definitely pointing to ourselves as the origin), but our ability ( ) is from (as its source) God,
2Co 3:5 . . . .: not that we are sufficient of ourselves to judge anything as from ourselves; sc. , to judge rightly of the methods to be followed in the discharge of the Apostolic ministry; there is no thought here of the natural depravity of man, or the like. For the constr. cf. 2Co 1:24 and reff. is here used in its widest sense of carrying on any of the ordinary processes of reasoning ( cf. 2Co 10:7 , 2Co 12:6 ). The repetition emphasises the statement of the need of God’s grace. St. Paul’s habit of dwelling on a word and coming back to it again and again (an artifice which the Latin rhetoricians called traductio ) is well illustrated in this passage. We have , , ; (following in 2Co 3:2 ); , , ; and eight times between 2Co 3:7-11 . With the sentiment , cf. 1Co 15:10 and chap. 2Co 12:9 .
of = from. Greek. apo. App-104.
think = reckon. Greek logizomai. See the frequent occurance in Rom 4, count, reckon, &c.
any thing. Greek. tis. App-123.,
of. Greek. ek. App-101.
sufficiency. Greek. hikanotes. Only here.
of. Greek. ek, as above.
5.] not that (i.e. I mean not, that :-not, not because, as Winer in his former editions: see edn. 6, 61. 5. f) we are of ourselves able to think any thing (to carry on any of the processes of reasoning or judgment, or faith belonging to our apostolic calling: there is no ellipsis, any thing great, or good, or the like) of ourselves, as if from ourselves ( . and . are parallel: the latter more definitely pointing to ourselves as the origin),-but our ability ( ) is from (as its source) God,
2Co 3:5. [16] , to devise [to think]) to obtain by thinking, much less to speak or perform. There seems to be here something of a mimesis [allusion to the words of the persons whom he refutes. Append.] For they do not think, whom God moves: i.e., they frame or work out nothing by their own thinking, 2Pe 1:21.-) anything; even the least thing.
[16] , we are) even yet at this very hour.-V. g.
2Co 3:5
2Co 3:5
not that we are sufficient of ourselves, to account anything as from ourselves;-His confidence was not that he was able of himself to think or do anything toward converting men. [He cannot bear the implication that any confidence rests on anything short of the overwhelming sense that he is but an instrument in the hands of God.]
but our sufficiency is from God;-God sent the Spirit who impressed the truth on his heart and led him to preach to them and confirm the teaching by signs and wonders and mighty works. (2Co 12:12).
that: 2Co 2:16, 2Co 4:7, Exo 4:10, Joh 15:5
but: 2Co 12:9, Exo 4:11-16, Jer 1:6-10, Mat 10:19, Mat 10:20, Luk 21:15, Luk 24:49, 1Co 3:6, 1Co 3:10, 1Co 15:10, Phi 2:13, Phi 4:13, Jam 1:17
Reciprocal: Gen 41:16 – It is not Exo 3:11 – General Deu 1:12 – General Jdg 11:11 – uttered Jdg 16:20 – the Lord 1Sa 17:45 – in the name 1Ki 3:9 – who is able 1Ch 15:26 – God 1Ch 29:14 – who am I 2Ch 1:10 – for who can Neh 7:5 – put into mine Psa 18:32 – girdeth Psa 78:72 – guided Psa 119:125 – give Act 3:12 – as Act 20:19 – with all Rom 1:5 – we have 1Co 12:3 – no man 2Co 1:9 – that 2Co 10:4 – mighty Gal 6:3 – when 1Ti 1:12 – who
THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY
Our sufficieney is of God.
2Co 3:5
The subjects of this chapter are, first, the reality, and secondly, the objects and the dignity of the Christian ministry. I say Christian ministry rather than Christian priesthood, because it is not merely the particular office of the priest as distinguished from those of deacon or of bishop which is being brought before us, but rather that whole system of human agency, including all orders and degrees of service, by which God has chosen to carry out the designs of the Incarnation and the extension of His Church.
I. The reality of the Christian ministry.Remember there is such a system of human agency ordained by God as that which we understand by the Christian ministry. The New Testament, or the New Covenant, or the Christian Church, call it which you please, is just as much an institution of Gods as the Jewish system had been, and its ministry is Gods appointment too.
II. Its objects and dignity.These two qualities we must take together, just as St. Paul has taken them. For the dignity of the Christian ministry does not lie in the privileges of its ministers, but in their usefulness to the brethren. It is in the use that they are of, or rather in the use that God has seen fit to make of them, the uses God puts them to, that the dignity of the Christian ministry lies. And so we say that the objects of the Christian ministry are its dignity, and that we cannot take them separately, as if they were different and separate things. In the verses before us, then, St. Paul defines the objects of the Christian ministry in two distinct phrases. He calls it
(a) The ministration of the Spirit; and
(b) The ministration of righteousness.
In these phrases he teaches us that the Christian ministry exists to administer the Spirit, and so to administer righteousness. These he states to be the objects for which the ministry of the Christian Church was instituted, and from these statements he draws the inference of the dignity of the ministry which subserves objects so important.
Illustration
The ministry of the Church is a ministry of righteousness, because it leads to righteousness, by bringing men under the dominating and permeating influence of that Holy Spirit Who is shed abroad in our hearts to make us righteous. It teaches righteousness; it teaches our need of righteousness; it teaches the means of righteousness; its very function and duty is so to interweave itself and its offices, and its services, and its teachings, with a mans whole life as to keep him in the way of righteousness at every turn of his life. Its very function is to take every precaution that all Christian people shall be always acting under the influence of the Holy Spirit, so that their whole life may be not their life, but the life of the Spirit living in them and animating their life. This is the secret; this, so to speak, is the rationale of all that system of Church services by which most especially the Churchs ministry exercises its ministration.
2Co 3:5. Paul explains the entire qualification for his part in the preceding program, by giving God the honor for the source of such sufficiency.
Observe here, 1. How the apostle having made an apology and defence for himself and his ministry, against those that did calumniate him, in the former verses; in the verse before us he acknowledges his great inability for this work, and that his whole sufficiency of service was from God; and this without doubt he mentions not only out of humility, but out of prudence also, in order to stop the mouths of those who might be apt to think he had too high an esteem of himself.
As if the apostle had said, “Far be it from me to think that I could procure the success of my ministry, that I have any such sufficiency of myself to convert souls; no, no, my sufficiency and success is all from God; for, alas! there is no proportion between such a sublime and supernatural service as that of the gospel ministry is and the impotency and weakness of man.” Not that we are sufficient of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God.
Observe, 2. The free and full acknowledgment which the apostle makes of the great things which God had done for him, and by him: he did not find, but made him a minister, an able minister; yea, an able minister of the New Testament, or new covenant; not a preacher of the law of Moses, but of the gospel of Jesus: Who hath made us able ministers of the New testament.
To be a sufficient and successful gospel minister, is a very great favour from God to any person: the clay of the gospel is better than the gold of the temple; the rags of the evangelical, more rich than the robes of the Levitical preacher: it is a greater honour to be, and a greater favour to hear, the meanest gospel preacher than to hear all Moses’ lectures.
Observe, 3. How our apostle here insensibly slides into a comparison which he makes between the law of Moses and the gospel of Christ, in which he magnifies and prefers the latter above the former; the law he calls the letter, the gospel the spirit; that is, a ministration of the Spirit. The letter killeth-that is, the law condemneth and curseth the sinner, the transgressor of it; but the Spirit of Christ revealed in the gospel enableth, as well as directeth, to obey, and so giveth life.
Note here, How false the Quaker’s and others’ gloss is upon these words: they by the letter will understand the whole written word of God contained in the scriptures of the Old and New Testament, the law and gospel both; and by the spirit, will have to be meant the inward and immediate teachings of the light within them.
Others, by the letter, understand the literal and historical sense of scripture in general; and by the spirit giving life, they understand the mystical and spiritual sense of scripture; but it is evident from 2Co 3:3, that by the letter he understands the law engraven in stone, the law as delivered by Moses with an appearance of the glory of the Lord upon mount Sinai; and by the spirit is meant the blessed Spirit of Christ given to the apostles to enable them to preach the gospel, and conferred upon all believers that did obediently hear and receive it.
2Co 3:5-6. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves For this great work of converting sinners, and creating them anew; or so much as to think any thing as of ourselves To form even right views of the gospel and divine things, much less to communicate such views to others, and less still to render them effectual to mens salvation. But our sufficiency is of God To whom we do and must ascribe whatever qualifications we have for our office, and whatever success we have in it; who also hath made us His apostles and others whom he hath sent into the work; able ministers Greek, , literally, who hath made us fit, or sufficient; ministers of the new testament Or covenant, rather, as is generally rendered. See the Introduction to the New Testament, p. 3. That Isaiah , 1 st, Of the covenant of grace, made with man after the fall; a covenant which makes provision for pardoning his guilt, renewing his depraved nature, and strengthening his weakness; purposes for which the former covenant, that of justice, established before the fall, made no provision; man, while in innocence, not needing it: 2d, And more especially, the new covenant here means the last and best dispensation of the covenant of grace, that made through the Messiah come in the flesh, in opposition to the two former dispensations of the covenant of grace, the Patriarchal and Mosaic. Not of the letter Not of the law, fitly called the letter, from Gods writing the best part of it on the two tables; but of the spirit Of the gospel dispensation, written on the tables of our hearts by the Spirit. Or rather, the apostle means that the true ministers of Christ are not merely ministers of the letter even of the gospel covenant; they not only bear testimony to, and enforce the literal knowledge of it, or that which is in mere theory, but the spiritual or experimental knowledge of it: that is, they not only endeavour to communicate to their hearers just, clear, and full views of the gospel in all its parts, but to bring them to have a lively and operative faith in its doctrines, producing in them a change of nature; to possess its graces, enjoy its privileges, and practise its duties. For the letter killeth The law, the Mosaic dispensation, seals in death those who still cleave to it; but the spirit The gospel, instrumental in conveying the Spirit of God to those who receive it with a true and lively faith; giveth life Both spiritual and eternal. Yea, if we adhere to the literal sense even of the moral law, if we regard only the precept and the sanction, as they stand in themselves, not as they lead us to Christ, they are doubtless a killing ordinance, and bind us down under the sentence of death. Nor is this all that the apostle means: but if we rest in the literal and merely notional knowledge of the new covenant itself, it not only will not justify and save us, but will condemn us to a greater death than that to which we were exposed by the sin of Adam: our condemnation will be aggravated, and our future misery increased through our misuse, or abuse rather, of so gracious a dispensation, a remedy provided in great mercy and love for the healing of our spiritual disorders and the saving of our souls. In other words, if we content ourselves with having right views of the gospel, of its truths and duties, privileges and blessings, and do not receive them in true repentance, living faith, sincere love, and new obedience; if we be satisfied with understanding the nature of the graces of Gods Spirit, and of justification, regeneration, and sanctification, and remain without the real possession and enjoyment of these blessings, the light we have, and our correct ideas of these things, will only render us the more inexcusable before God, and expose us to greater wrath than could have come upon us, if we had not been favoured with that knowledge and these advantages. On the other hand, the spiritual and experimental knowledge of the new covenant in all its branches, the knowledge communicated by the Holy Spirit, giveth life. It quickens the soul, before dead to God and divine things, dead in a state of guilt, depravity, and weakness; it justifies the ungodly, sanctifies the unholy, unites to God those who had been alienated from his life, stamps them with his image, communicates to them his nature, and renders them spiritually minded, which is life and peace. And while it imparts the life of grace, it gives a title to, a meetness for, and a foretaste of, the life of glory. To spread this spiritual, experimental, and practical knowledge of the new covenant, therefore, is the chief concern, and endeavour of every true minister of Christ; and for this work every such a one is qualified by being savingly made acquainted with its nature, excellence, and glory, in consequence of which he can and will not only speak justly and clearly concerning it, but with zeal, fervency, and deep concern, that his message may be properly received and obeyed by all who hear him. Understanding the doctrines, possessing the graces, practising the duties, and enjoying the privileges of this new dispensation himself, he speaks with sincerity and pathos; speaks what he knows, and testifies what he has seen, or experienced; and his words, proceeding from the heart, and uttered with feeling, seldom fail to reach the heart: while in the mean time, his spirit and conduct, his holy tempers, words, and actions, strongly recommend his doctrine, and powerfully enforce all his exhortations, the Lord Jesus, according to his promise, being with him in all his ministrations, and giving efficacy to the word of his grace.
not that we are sufficient of ourselves, to account anything as from ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God;
THE LETTER KILLETH AND THE SPIRIT MAKETH ALIVE
5. We are not able to think anything from ourselves, as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God. Unless the Holy Spirit sanctify and illuminate the intellect we are incompetent to even think God-like thoughts. No wonder the Savior forbade his own apostles to go out preaching till they were filled with the Holy Ghost, who is really the only preacher in all the world, others only being competent to preach through His immediate agency and presence.
6. Who also empowered us ministers of the new covenant. Christ is Mediator of the new covenant and Moses of the old, the latter being rudimentary and the former Christian perfection. Hence the people who remain in spiritual infancy, i. e., stop with justification, are spindled and dwarfed in the dispensation of Moses, three thousand years behind the age. Not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter killeth, but the Spirit maketh alive. The man who depends on the simple Word for salvation without the Spirit, is like the murderer who employs a lawyer to search the statute-book to find his pardon. Nothing will be found there but his condemnation. The Bible says: The soul that sinneth, it shall die. Sad to say, the multitude of preachers in Christendom this day are ministers of the Word without the Spirit, and simply augmenting the condemnation and expediting the damnation of their people, unless they receive the Spirit, which is not very probable unless the preachers lead the way. The people swept through the churches down to Hell meet a more awful doom than the heathens, because they sin against light and knowledge. This dead-letter ministry has girdled the globe with the form without the power, from which God says, Turn away. No man can be a minister of the Spirit unless he has the Spirit. All he can do is to condemn you, sending mourning to the Spirit. Good Lord, help us to be ministers of the Spirit, and not simply of the letter. Satan knows that the Word without the Spirit will only expedite and augment damnation. Hence he sends out so many to preach who are strangers to the Holy Ghost. If we would be the ministers of the Spirit, we must receive Him into our hearts and let Him fill us and use us. We must recognize Him as the Leader of our meetings. This will knock out all human form and ceremony, and turn over the singing, praying, preaching and testifying to the Holy Ghost. Besides all this, we must be consciously possessed by the Holy Ghost. Will you be a minister of the Holy Ghost? They are scarce, and at a high premium in Heaven. We live amid awful issues. Every preacher nowadays is forced to decide between human authority and influence and the Holy Ghost. I am glad I passed this ordeal thirty years ago. Many are dying hard at that point now. Will you be a minister of the dead letter or the Holy Ghost?
3:5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our {e} sufficiency [is] of God;
(e) In that we are proper and able to make other men partakers of so great a grace.
Paul did not want his readers to confuse this confidence with the confidence that comes from feeling adequate or self-sufficient. Our service is really God working through us rather than we serving Him. God is the one who makes us adequate servants. Paul was contrasting God-confidence with self-confidence.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)